"A new £155-a-week flat rate state pension will be ‘incredibly pro-family’, Iain Duncan Smith declares today. The shake-up will also end the indignity of means-testing for millions of older people, he says. Unveiling the biggest reform of the system since it was created more than a century ago, the Work and Pensions Secretary says couples and women who take time out of their career to bring up children will be the biggest winners." – Daily Mail

"More than one-and-a-half million pensioners do not claim the pension credit that they are entitled to, and the government believes that this would not occur under a simpler flat-rate system. The self-employed are also likely to benefit, as they tend to get a lower state pension. However, there is likely to be a debate about the fairness of a flat rate that makes no distinction between poor and wealthy pensioners." – BBC

"Over 10 million people at work today are simply not saving enough for the retirement they want. While people have to take responsibility for their own future, as a Government we will make it easier and simpler for people to plan. A combination of a single, simple, decent state pension and the right to a workplace pension will mean that, for the first time, there will be a firm foundation for retirement for today’s working population." Steve Webb, Pensions Minister Daily Telegraph

"We need to be the everyone everywhere party," says Shapps interviewed for Independent

"Mr Shapps dismisses as "completely and utterly untrue" the Lib Dems' claim that the Tories cannot be trusted to build a fair society. "We agree [with the Lib Dems] on the big fundamental issues like deficit reduction. There are vast areas where actually we don't see eye to eye at all," he says. He has a list of measures the Lib Dems have blocked, the starting point for the Tories' manifesto in 2015." – The Independent

Pickles says he'll vote his own way in EU referendum

"Communities Secretary Eric Pickles has said the UK should only remain a part of the EU if it suits its own national interest, but not "stay at any price". Mr Pickles told the BBC he would not vote along party lines in a future referendum on the UK's EU membership. "I'll be voting on what I think is the interests of the country," he said." – BBC

Mr Pickles said Labour in power had encouraged different cultures to live separate lives. He says: “Labour saw no merit in encouraging people to get on. “Labour is still playing the politics of division, playing the North off against the South.” – The Sun

Tory members views on EU referendum challenge Cameron…

"A chasm between David Cameron and the overwhelming majority of Conservatives over Europe is starkly illustrated in a new poll today. Seventy-eight per cent of Tory members want to quit the European Union, either altogether or to replace it with a common market relationship, according to the survey by the ConservativeHome website. Only 16 per cent want the kind of future that is expected to be the central vision of the Prime Minister’s landmark speech on Europe next week, in which some powers would be repatriated to the UK from Brussels. " – The Times (£)

…as Cameron to reject "nuclear options"…

"The prime minister is expected to show that there are limits to his demands when he rejects what have been described as "nuclear" options to be outlined on Wednesday by the Fresh Start group of Eurosceptic Tory MPs." – The Guardian

"Peter Wilding, the campaign's director, a former Tory head of communications in Europe, said: "We acknowledge the EU's shortcomings but far from leaving Europe, Britain should be leading in Europe. We are neither Europhile nor Europhobe but Eurorealist." The Independent

"It has organised a letter by about 20 Tory MPs, including members from the 2010 Westminster intake, supporting its aims – and hopes to increase that tally to near 40. Robert Buckland, one of the signatories, said there was a “silent majority” of people who did not want Britain to leave the EU, saying such a move would be of “massive detriment to the UK”." – Financial Times

…while business becomes more sceptical

"More than one-third (35 per cent) of the respondents to the British Chambers of Commerce survey said the disadvantages caused by the red tape imposed by Brussels now outweigh the benefits of being part of the single market." Allister Heath, City AM

Decriminalise all drugs say peers

"The panel of nine peers – two Conservative, two Labour, a Liberal Democrat and four crossbenchers – took evidence from 31 experts and organisations, including the Association of Chief Police Officers and the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs." – BBC

"In a controversial finding, their report says giving criminal records to young drug users creates 'higher levels of unemployment, homelessness and relationship problems'. It also has little impact on drug use, according to the politicians, who include senior figures such as former Tory Chancellor Lord Lawson and ex-MI5 chief Baroness Manningham-Buller." – Daily Mail

Tories should stop wearing their hearts under their sleeves

"The huge frustration for those who care about the Conservative Party’s fortunes and, more importantly, about the whole idea of One Nation is that the Tories not only have a moral story to tell but it’s both more compelling and more transformational than Labour’s. The problem is that many Tory MPs can’t articulate it. If large sections of the parliamentary party don’t understand conservatism’s moral purpose then voters don’t have a chance." – Tim Montgomerie in The Times(£)

Wind farm errors push up bills

"Consumers could see bills rise in the coming years after “generous” deals worth £17 billion were agreed with energy firms delivering wind-generated power to homes, a report by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has warned. Under a scheme agreed by Labour leader Ed Miliband during the last Labour government, but implemented by Coalition ministers, the contracts guarantee that the power firms will be paid even if they fail to deliver energy to households." – Daily Telegraph

Civil servants blocking coalition reforms

"An increasingly bitter power struggle between ministers and mandarins is poisoning relations across Whitehall and threatening to derail David Cameron’s reforms, The Times has learnt. Tension over the pace and scale of coalition policy has given way to outright mistrust in some departments with ministers feeling blocked by an unwieldy and unwilling Civil Service." – The Times

"One only has to look at the present Cabinet Secretary, Sir Jeremy Heywood, to see how second-rate leadership in the civil service has become." Simon Heffer in the Daily Mail

Mandarins hit back at Hilton

"One senior figure said Hilton had undermined the "central planning process" in Downing Street by failing to attend meetings where the "grid" of government announcements is drawn up." – The Guardian

"If what Hilton told his students is true, what on earth has happened
to the No 10 grid system?" Damian McBride in The Independent

"David Cameron’s slim hopes of pushing through boundary changes that would deliver the Tories 20 extra safe seats have been dealt a blow by the Ulster Unionists." – The Times (£)

Pickles and May in dispute over EU migrant housing

"A cabinet row erupted into the open on Sunday when the communities secretary, Eric Pickles, warned of housing problems when migrants from the EU's two newest member states are given full access to Britain from next year." – The Guardian

"David Cameron was last night accused of putting Britain at risk of a terror strike after helping France fight Al Qaeda-linked militants in Mali. The Prime Minister was warned that the decision to transport foreign troops and equipment to the war zone could provoke reprisals on UK streets." – Daily Mail

"It was a distraction six years ago and remains one today – a worse one in some ways, since it involves such a large and uncertain use of public money at a time of scarcity. Super-prisons are a titanic waste under the coalition, just as they were under Labour. Mr Grayling should go no further with the idea." – Guardian editorial

Fines for putting rubbish out on wrong day to be scrapped

"Hefty fines for putting a bin out on the wrong day will finally be scrapped this year, Communities Secretary Eric Pickles has pledged. Householders will no longer be penalised by their council if they accidentally put their rubbish out early, or put the wrong item in the wrong bin." – Daily Mail

Call for tax exemptions for NHS providers

"Monitor, the NHS's economic regulator, argues that as public sector hospitals do not pay corporation tax and VAT on supplies, whereas private firms do, the result is an "unfair playing field" in healthcare." – The Guardian

Boris Johnson makes the case for upgrading the rail system

"Yes, there was something nutty about the Victorians. But we need to rediscover their brilliance, their drive, and their self-belief. We should start with transport." Boris Johnson Daily Telegraph

"According to our polling 57% of the public consider themselves working class, and 36% consider themselves middle class. Of the highest earners in the land, those categorised as ABs, 33% say they are working class, while 46% of ABC1s also put themselves in the working class category. It begs the question: how do we classify class?" – State of the Nation, British Future

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